Launch Incubator: Pitches

At Sand Hill Angels, we have a monthly event called RAW where we invite eight founders interested in refining their business models or pitches to pitch to some of our members. The format is: 5 minute pitch, 5 minute Q&A, and 5 minutes for feedback. This is often a monthly highlight and those of us investors in attendance are able to disagree in a friendly manner and play off each other as we ask questions and provide feedback.

This has been the perfect training ground for participating in other pitch judging events including one for Jason Calacanis’ Launch Incubator yesterday. There were three of us investors on the panel and per Jason, we were the toughest investors/judges this season. I will take that as a compliment. I think we were kind and direct which can be quite helpful.

There were some interesting companies in the group that I think some of the investors at Sand Hill Angels might be interested in investing in. There was one female founder in the group (let’s get those numbers up, Jason) with a pretty interesting idea (I want to be a paying customer). I also plan to follow up with her if only to make introductions to someone at a company that may be interested in acquiring her technology.

We are less than two weeks away from Launch Festival where I will be spending my birthday ‘speed dating’ with some of their handpicked companies as I continue to look for investment opportunities for Sand Hill Angels on April 5th (birthday wishes and vanilla cake welcome…we will leave the chocolate for my identical twin sister). On April 6th, I plan to heckle Gil Penchina and then act as a panel judge for one of the pitch competitions for biotech/healthcare startups (definitely more in my wheelhouse).

I really enjoy these opportunities as I can’t help but learn from the founders about what is new and exciting and also from the other investors on what they are looking for. Never a dull moment, regardless, and I appreciate the opportunities.